Benjamin Doyle is facing backlash for using playful queer slang — but the real issue is the wave of hate and threats they’re receiving. Jennifer Shields says we must support authenticity, not apologise for it.
When we expect our representatives of queer communities on a national stage to be perfectly sanitised, focus group-tested, PR-line spinning versions of themselves instead of their whole selves, we lose something important – their humanity.
Benjamin Doyle has been dragged over the coals this week for old Instagram posts on a private account that uses the word “bussy” – queer slang that most commonly is used tongue-in-cheek, much like many members of our community use the word “bitch”. Because of the state of the world, and because of rife disinformation campaigns about queer people being “groomers”, it’s made the news.
We shouldn’t be sacrificing one of our own to the twitter trolls over jokey language. Remember when even being queer was considered inappropriate, unacceptable, not fit for public life? Remember the gay panics of the pre-law reform era, or the Satanic panic media storm over Peter Ellis? Why are we bolstering these respectability politics scare campaigns instead of standing with those that represent us? Why are we still allowing people to frame queerness as inherently deviant, something not fit for public life?
Remember Georgina Beyer, our first transgender MP, who had also worked as a sex worker? Who used her experiences, her history, her connections to make real change for our communities? What would we have lost if we had dragged her name through the mud and demanded she apologised for her history?
Our communities have their own cultures and their own language. We should be standing by the people representing us, not cutting them down when people don’t understand. When we cede ground to what society considers “respectable”, we risk losing part of what makes us unique. The Green Party have nothing to apologise for because Doyle has done nothing wrong. They’re rightfully standing by them as they face a flood of death threats – the real issue we should be focusing on.
